Today in rock history September 5th

1945 – Al Stewart, the soft-voiced singer who hit with “Year of the Cat” and once hired a young Tori Amos, is born in Glasgow, Scotland. 1946 – Freddie Mercury, lead singer with Queen, is born today in Zanzibar, Tanzania. 1965 – The Rolling Stones fly to Los Angeles. There they will record their No. 1 single “Get Off of My Cloud.” 1966 – John Lennon flies to Germany to begin filming How I Won the War with director Richard Lester. He begins to wear the granny glasses of his character, Pvt. Gripweed. 1970 – Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen album enters the charts. 1972 – At London’s Alexandra Palace you can see several avant-garde films by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. “Cold Turkey,” “The Ballad of John and Yoko,” “Give Peace a Chance,” “Instant Karma,” and “Up Your Leg” were all screened as part of the London Art Spectrum. 1981 – Bruce Springsteen joins the Pretenders onstage in Pasadena, Calif., to cover the Jackie Wilson classic “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher.” 1990 – B.B. King receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 1992 – John Mellencamp marries model Elaine Irwin. It is the third marriage for the 40- year-old Indiana-born rocker and first for the 23-year-old model. 2000 – Oasis guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher splits with his wife, Meg Matthews, the inspiration for the song “Wonderwall.” 2003 – Greendale, the inscrutable Neil Young-directed film that accompanies Neil Young’s inscrutable concept album of the same name, premieres at the Toronto Film Festival. 2005 –Sheryl Crow announces she’s engaged to multiple Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. 2008 - Ann & Nancy Wilson of Heart sent a cease-and-desist letter to John McCain’s campaign due to their usage of “Barracuda” in reference to McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin. The Wilson sisters didn’t have legal sending to send the letter due to the McCain campaign’s lawful purchase of rights to the song.